Beschreibung:
This paper makes the case for a “socialist modernism” to understand the development of Alexanderplatz by the regime of the German Democratic Republic in the 1960s. We propose that the socialist era development on Alexanderplatz was staged as the realization of the modernist vision. At the same time, the 1960s design of Alexanderplatz also includes distinctive ‘socialist’ features, notably the emphasis on centrality and visually dominant tall structures that are in striking contrast to the (Western) high modernist canon. The paper consists of two parts: First we consider the GDR conception of urbanism and the development of the city centre. Alexanderplatz was in many ways the pinnacle of such conception that built on the modernist legacy and imported Soviet ideas of city building. Second, we look at Alexanderplatz through a historical lens. We argue that the GDR development built on the experience of previous modernist development plans for Alexanderplatz in the late 1920s. While Alexanderplatz was to demonstrate the unique socialist capacity to realize the promises of modernity, “Alex,” as the square is colloquially termed, also contrasts with stylizations of the “socialist city” as proposed by Sonia Hirt or Iván Szelényi.